Canada’s Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps, second after pairs short program in France

Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were second after the pairs short program at the Grand Prix de France figure skating event on Friday.

The opening event of the Grand Prix circuit featured a high-profile pais showdown between two sets of world champions.

Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, world champions in 2023 and this year, led the short program ahead of Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, who won world gold in 2024.

Both pairs delivered near-flawless short programs but Miura and Kihara, skating to a cover of “Paint It Black” on strings, edged ahead on 79.44. Stellato-Dudek, who was born in Chicago but competes for Canada, and Deschamps, from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., scored 74.26 to their routine set to “Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

Hungary’s Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko were third on 70.15 ahead of two U.S. pairs, Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman on 63.31 and Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy on 61.79.

Meanwhile, Ami Nakai took the lead ahead of three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto in the women’s short program.

On her Grand Prix debut, former world junior bronze medalist Nakai landed the competition’s only triple axel jump at the start of her program on her way to a score of 78 points.

Nakai’s fellow Japanese skater Sakamoto could manage only 76.20, while 2024 world silver medalist Isabeau Levito of the United States was third on 73.37 ahead of Saturday’s free skate.

The Grand Prix de France is the first of six regular season Grand Prix events building to a final in December. The series is a key competitive test for top-level skaters eyeing medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics